Gena Newman
Gena Newman, more commonly known by her call-sign Mother, is a United States Marine who ordinarily operates under the command of her good friend Shane Schofield. History Early History Gena married at a young age to Ralph Newman, presumably some time after she joined the Marines, where she earned her call-sign Mother. In the early 1990's, Mother took part in joint American-Australian operations in Iraq during Desert Storm. During this time, she encountered Jack "Huntsman" West Jr of the Australian SAS. After many years of service in the Marine Corps, she was assigned to Recon Unit 16 under the command of Shane "Scarecrow" Schofield. During her time operating for this unit, Mother quickly came to have great respect for Schofield due to his fair treatment towards his people, and noted the obvious attraction between Schofield and Elizabeth Gant. When Mother was later offered a position in a more career-promising Atlantic recon unit by the Marine Corps' Commandant, she wrote back to him to politely decline the offer, citing that she was happy enough serving in Schofield's unit. Ice Station When Recon Unit 16 was dispatched to investigate Wilkes Ice Station in Antarctica, Mother was onboard Book's hovercraft when they were redirected to locate a hovercraft that had disappeared from radar. After they found the hovercraft and determined that it had been deliberately crashed to make it appear as an accident, Book's sub-team arrived at Wilkes and Mother ventured into the station. Unfortunately, this happened just moments before a team of disguised French paratroopers broke cover and attacked the Marines. During the battle, Mother, Rebound and Legs were forced down to B-deck, and ended up being caught in a pincer maneuver that was botched due to gases leaking throughout the station, causing the whole catwalk to collapse and dump Mother and several others into the diving pool below. When they came under attack from killer whales, Mother fired her Desert Eagle whenever they came close, despite the water slowing down her bullets. However, as she reached the edge of the pool deck, a whale caught her left leg in its jaw and dragged her underwater. She resurfaced moments later, kicking at the whale with her other leg until she lost patience and shot the whale, killing it thanks to the gaseous environment in the station, however as the concussive blast knocked her back, Mother's leg was torn off by the whale. Mother was forced to wait out the rest of the battle, and Rebound secured her in one of the E-deck storage rooms. Once the battle was over, Mother was given some pain relief and left in the room since it was feared she might have a fit if she was moved again. When Schofield later came to check on her, Mother reassured him about their victory despite the fact that they had being kept on the back foot throughout the battle, and told him about how she had declined a position in an Atlantic recon unit in order to remain under his command. When he asked her if she knew anything about infiltrators in units, Mother mentioned how many recruits would tell stories about infiltrators from the government being placed in units. When she asked what brought this on, Schofield revealed his suspicion came after Samurai has been killed, and only their fellow Marines had the opportunity. However, Mother reminded him about a Wilkes scientist who had been sealed in his room for apparently killing another scientist, so Schofield prepares to check on him. Before Schofield left, Mother commented on the anti-flash glasses she gave him to replace his lost ones, and told Schofield that someone (Gant) had their eye on him, though he thought it was the methadone talking. Later, Mother awoke to find Snake standing in the doorway, and though she believed he had come to give her more pain relief, Snake quickly revealed his intention to kill her. Mother briefly activated her helmet's microphone so that the others might be alerted to the situation, and questioned Snake on why he was betraying them. Admitting that he was a member of the Intelligence Convergence Group (one of the rumoured groups of infiltrators she had mentioned to Schofield, but had dismissed out of hand), he then came at her with his knife. Fortunately, even in her injured condition, Mother was able to keep him off of her and pinned long enough for Schofield to arrive and detain him. Soon afterwards, Mother was brought out to watch Schofield questioning the traitor, and upon Snake's lack of cooperation, she suggested that they cut off his balls and feed them to the whales. The interrogation was soon cut short when an opportunity to communicate outside of the station came up, and Mother was moved back into the storage room. Schofield soon appeared to her and told Mother that a team of British SAS soldiers were incoming, and began preparing to move her. However, Mother told Schofield to leave her behind, as she knew that she would only slow them down, and implored him to get to McMurdo for reinforcements. Knowing she could die during that time, she jokingly suggested that a kiss from him would be alright, and to her surprise he actually did kiss her before leaving. Before the SAS platoon arrived, Mother managed to move herself to safety underneath a dumbwaiter to avoid being caught. Despite her efforts to stay awake, she soon lapsed into unconsciousness. Mother eventually woke up when a team of ICG-controlled Navy SEALs intent on killing everyone arrived in the station. Before they could make their way down to E-deck, she managed to get into some diving equipment and escaped into the diving pool. She quickly found a trail of rope, which she followed to an old research station stuck in an iceberg, where she took shelter and activated her GPS locator. Mother was soon rescued by friendly forces, and later spoke to Schofield over the phone before she was sedated so that doctors could tend to her injury. Between Ice Station and Area 7 After several months of physical therapy, Mother returned to active duty after receiving a prosthetic titanium-alloy leg to replace he lost one. Because of the publicity regarding the incident at Wilkes, she was reassigned, along with Schofield and Gant, to serve on Marine One. During this time, she became good friends with Gant, to the point where they developed a code-word, "Paris", that they could to call for help use if they were being hit on by an unwelcome person, though Mother never had to use it. Area 7 Mother was part of the unit escorting the President to Area 7, being onboard Nighthawk Two during the journey. After she heard Gant use their code-word, Mother helped her escape from Nicholas Tate's advances. Mother joined Schofield and Gant after the choppers arrived at the base, and listened in as Elvis and Brainiac debated what the Air Force base did. She soon returned to Marine One, just before the 7th Squadron forces guarding Area 7 turned on the President's people. From inside the chopper, Mother saw a televised transmission from Caesar which stated that if the President dies then fourteen major cities would be blown up. Mother grabbed what weapons she could and escaped through the bottom hatch of Marine One, meeting up with Schofield, Gant and Brainiac. As they fled down an air-shaft, Mother explained to them what she had learned from the transmission. The group soon took cover in an AWACS plane, where they confirmed the presence of a transmitter on the President's heart. When they came under attack from the 7th Squadron's Charlie unit, Mother started up the plane and began driving it around the underground hanger to throw off their enemies. After handing control over to Schofield, she helped to fight off the soldiers attempting to breach the plane, until Schofield was forced to drive the plane into the aircraft elevator shaft, with Mother and the others surviving intact. The four Marines then made their way through the 4th Level facility, and found Kurt Logan and his squad preparing an ambush on the President, and so they turned the tables on Alpha unit and forced them into retreating. Momentarily safe, Mother and the others took stock of the situation, learning from the President and Herbert Franklin that Area 7 was a facility intended to create a vaccine to the deadly bio-weapon called the Sinovirus, before determining that they had to retrieve the Football from Caesar's men before the timer ran down. Mother and Brainiac were sent to assist Franklin in shutting down the base's cameras so that the others could make their move, but found that the cameras had already been shut off. Once Schofield and the others returned with the Football, the group realised that the genetically-engineered boy used to create the Sinovirus vaccine had been taken by a South African scientist, and with the Football in their possession, decided to go after them. When the group attempted to pursue Botha to Lake Powell on the X-rail, they came under attack from Bravo unit, and Mother was among those forced to ditch their carriage when it was assailed by grenades. Luckily, Elvis' kamikaze was able to afford them the chance to escape back into the base. As they kept the President moving, Mother took a moment to ask Gant how her date with Schofield had gone. After hearing that Schofield hadn't kissed her at the end, Mother was disappointed and determined to find out why from Schofield when he got back, though Gant asked her not to mention it. Mother then helped get a black box from another plane so that they could create another transmitter and be free to disable the one on the President's heart, but shortly after Schofield returned, Mother was among those captured by the escape prisoners. Upon being captured, Mother noted the presence of Carl Webster among the captured men from Caesar's forces, realising he had sold out the President and the Football. When the prisoners forced them into a fight to the death, Mother took on the turncoat, and when he was briefly stunned by the lack of impact to her (prosthetic) leg, she killed Webster and reunited with Schofield and the President. As a Sinovirus grenade had gone off, they quickly retreated and discovered Kevin had now been taken by Echo unit to Area 8. While following the 7th Squadron unit using the X-rail, Mother questioned why Schofield didn't kiss Gant, and was amused by his confession that he had been nervous and was afraid of what she might really think of his scarred eyes. After Mother assured him Gant didn't care about those scars, she implored Schofield to kiss Gant the next time he saw her. Once they arrived at Area 8, they found that Caesar's remaining men were firing upon Echo unit, who were attempting to flee onboard a 747-mounted prototype X-38. As they attempted to sneak onto the plane during the chaos, Mother resolved to remain behind while Schofield and the President continued on. She then used her towing car to distract Caesar's choppers, and apparently perished when the car was flipped. Luckily, Mother had created enough of a dust cloud to cover her survival, and before Caesar's men came in to finish her off, the Marine had removed her leg and put it aside when burying her head in the ground beneath the car, making it appear as though she had died. After Caesar's men moved on, Mother returned to the Area 8 base, where friendly Marine forces soon arrived, along with Book II, Juliet Janson, Kevin and the President. After Area 7 was destroyed, Schofield and Gant were soon retrieved from Lake Powell and reunited with Mother at Area 8, where she proudly explained how she had tricked Caesar's men. She then asked if Schofield had kissed Gant, and was pleased to hear that he had. After the crisis, Mother and the others were awarded a medal for their actions in saving the President's life, and during the subsequent dinner she and Ralph spoke with the President. Between Area 7 and Scarecrow Sometime after the Area 7 incident, Schofield's father John committed suicide, leaving twelve million dollars to his son. Because he felt that it was a cruel man's tainted money, Schofield followed Mother and Gant's suggestion to donate all of it to a Washington, DC hospital. When Gant was set to be promoted to First Lieutenant, Mother's recommendation in her favour was one of the deciding factors. As a result, Gant was assigned to lead Marine Reconnaissance Unit 9, and Mother volunteered to be her unit's Team Chief. At some point during 2003, Mother, Ralph, Schofield and Gant, began planning a holiday to Italy together, and Schofield clued Mother in to his plans to propose to Gant during the trip. On the 25th of October 2003, Recon unit 9, including Mother, was assigned to join an Allied force to infiltrate an Al-Qaeda base in the Karpalov coalmine. Scarecrow While making their way into the mine to rendezvous with Allied forces already engaged with the enemy, Mother brazenly suggested to Gant how classy it would be if Schofield proposed on their trip, and showed little regret when Gant figured out that Schofield had told Mother he was going to propose. Shortly after they met up with Sphinx's unit, Mother and Gant were horrified as another force followed in behind them, beheaded Sphinx and opened fire on them. The two Marines vaulted over their barricade to avoid the slaughter, and were surprised to see that the Al-Qaeda men were also under attack from another unknown force. After they set up a beacon for a bomb to strike the mine, Mother got separated from Gant, and ended up clashing with some Al-Qaeda men while on a conveyor belt leading into a rock crusher. Rescued at the last second by Schofield, he informed Mother that their enemies were bounty hunters and that he was one of fifteen targets on a bounty list. After finding Gant's abandoned Maghook, Mother, Schofield and the others were surrounded by the first enemy bounty hunters, the Skorpions, whose leader prepared to take Schofield's head. Luckily, another bounty hunter known as the Black Knight arrived and ended the stand-off, revealing he had been hired to protect Schofield, before escorting Mother and the others out as they were pursued by the Skorpions to the bounty hunter's plane. Once they were safe, Knight and his partner Rufus told the Marines what they knew about the hunt, and that Gant had been taken by the best bounty-hunting force, IG-88. Looking to obtain more information, Schofield decided to send Mother and Book II to London to speak with a Mossad agent who was also a target to see what he knew. Flown to England by Rufus, Mother and Book II went to the Mossad's office in the King's Tower to speak with Rosenthal, only to be forced to go on the defensive when Demon and his IG-88 squad attacked. After they found Rosenthal first, Mother and Book II tried to get the Mossad agent to safety, however Mother got seperated from them. Mother proceeded to grapple with a pair of IG-88 men, a confrontation that saw her hanging off a boardroom table hanging out the edge of the building before being forced to flee from a volley of helicopter gunfire. After Book II took control of one of the choppers, he directed Mother to grab Rosenthal's notes on the bounty hunt (the Mossad agent having perished during the attack) before picking her up. The two Marines prepared to rendezvous with Schofield, Gant and Knight at the French castle they were investigating, only to find that Rufus had been detained by the U.S. State Department liasion Scott Moseley. Moseley informed the pair that they had the full backing of the U.S. to keep Schofield alive, thanks to the President's authority, and so Mother opted to have Rufus released so that he could take her to France while Book II looked over Rosenthal's notes. As they made their way to the Forteresse de Valois, Mother inquired as to Rufus and Knight's history, and was surprised to learn they had been set up by the ICG, noting sadly how Knight was a Schofield-gone-wrong. Arriving to find a trail of destruction that was a clear sign that something had gone wrong, Mother and Rufus were also clued in by Book II that he had learned that the "billionaires club" Majestic-12 were planning to start a new Cold War by using clones of foreign missiles and disguised frigates, and that Schofield was a target because he was one of the few who could stop them. When they picked up Knight, he directed Rufus to the French aircraft carrier Schofield had been taken to, and sadly informed Mother that Gant was dead. Though distraught, Mother prepared herself to rescue Schofield, taking down several French soldiers while Knight and Rufus assaulted the carrier in the Black Raven. After Schofield had been retrieved, they began making their way to the first Kormoran vessel, but upon learning of Gant's death, Schofield demanded they landed. Mother watched as he grieved, but when he took out his gun she tried to intervene, desperately fighting with Schofield to keep him from committing suicide. It was only when Mother surprised him by using his actual name that he paused, and Mother convinces him that the world needs men like him, and that Gant wouldn't want to see him give up since killing himself would only allow M-12 and Jonathon Killian to win. Schofield thanked Mother and agreed to continue the mission, but told her he would make no promises about what happened after, to which she stated she would fight him again if she had to. Once they arrived on the Talbot, Mother joined Schofield and Knight in trying to reach the control console for the Chameleon missile, however they were hindered by the Skorpions and IG-88 (the former of which had already taken out the last remaining man on the bounty list). After having Rufus ram the ship so that it would sink, Mother distracted the IG-88 troops while Schofield and Knight made their escape, and Schofield last saw her before her cover shack was blown up. Fortunately she managed to escape the shack, and with the ship sinking was forced to find her own way to shore. Having Knight's PalmPilot on hand, Mother was able to track the MicroDots left on Schofield's hand back to the Forteresse de Valois, and swam in through the entrance to the shark pit. When she surfaced, she spied Cal Noonan about to behead Schofield on a guillotine, and so she quickly threw a shuriken that kept the blade from falling. After opening fire on the ExSol and rogue Delta forces, Mother released Knight and Rufus so that one of them could assist Schofield. With Killian fleeing, Mother opted to stay behind and keep some of their enemies at bay while Schofield and Knight went after the billionaire. Four months later, Mother and Ralph held a barbecue, where she exchanged stories with Book II and David Fairfax about the incident. Mother remained worried about Schofield, who had not yet returned to duty, but after Schofield received a letter from Knight, Schofield assured Mother that he was ready to start living again. Hell Island In August 2005, Mother was a part of Schofield's ten-person team sent to HALO jump with other specialised units onto the deck of the USS Nimitz, which had apparently been forced by a tsunami to dock at the Hell Island base and was now no longer to communications. As they moved to investigate the control tower of the Nimitz, Mother noted the blood all around the deck in spite of the lack of bodies, and was able to determine that some of the blood spatter appears to be from limbs being ripped off instead of bullet impacts. Soon Mother discovered a digital signal is being broadcast throughout the Nimitz, so Schofield asked her to use a radio spectrum analyser to tune in to the signal and be ready to jam it. While the other units came under attack from an unknown enemy, Schofield led the team to the internal hanger where it was staged to look like a battlefield. They soon encountered a DARPA scientist, Zak Pennebaker, who explained that modified gorillas had gone rogue and attacked the carrier and base personnel. The Marines suddenly come under attack from the gorillas, and they were forced to retreat. Unfortunately, they realise they were being pushed towards a larger force of the gorillas, and so instead headed for the flight deck, commandeering troop transport trucks. After their truck crashed on the flight deck, Mother, Sanchez and Astro were left exposed, but luckily Schofield and Bigfoot used the main gun of an abandoned F-14 Tomcat to cut down several of the gorillas. Schofield then ordered Mother's group to meet them at "Casper's door" while he drew the gorillas away. After reuniting, Mother berates Sanchez for believing that Schofield was having a breakdown and for his favoritism towards his old unit. When Mother explained to him how they had kept victory from the Buck during their units' confrontation during a war game exercise, she helped Schofield realise that the Buck was on Hell Island and in command of the gorillas. After Schofield came up with a plan to finish off the gorillas, Mother helped him lure the animals into an ammunition chamber beneath the island so that they could detonate the explosives. Before they could open fire, however, a DARPA scientist ordered them to stand down and appeared to congratulate them on their success. This was, of course, a ruse, and the Marines found themselves on the wrong end of the Delta team's gun-sights. Schofield, recalling the digital signal and figuring it was how the gorillas were being controlled, told Mother to jam the signal, freeing the gorillas awaken from their control. As they started attacking the DARPA scientists, Schofield's team took advantage of the Delta team's distraction to put them down first, before they flooded the tunnels and escaped. With that, Mother and the others waited for a plane to take them home. Between Hell Island and Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves Since the Majestic-12 affair, Mother remained aware of how fragile Schofield was psychologically following Gant's death, and did her best to help him in moving past it. However, Ralph started becoming frustrated with Mother's constant care for Schofield, leading to problems in their marriage. Mother, however, felt that it had already become strained since they had been married a long time and seemed to have fallen into an endless routine. As a result, Mother herself began seeing a psychologist in order to deal with her own stress. Though she once admitted to Schofield her worries about her marriage, she didn't share with him her visits to the psychologist. Following some failed attempts by the French to have Schofield assassinated, he was assigned to join an equipment testing team in the Arctic, and the ever-loyal Mother went too. Over the next seven weeks, Mother enjoyed the company of the civilian contractors Zack Weinberg and Emma Dawson, and working with the former's equipment such as the BRTE-500 / Bertie and tactical wristguard, but felt less inclined towards the scientist's taste in music. With little else to do, Mother would re-read a Cosmo magazine which had her horoscope claiming that she would meet her mirror image in the opposite sex and herself attracted to him; Mother dismissed this since the only people she'd met lately were on the equipment-testing team and not to her taste. Throughout the testing trip, Mother couldn't help but continue to worry about Schofield's mental-health, as she occasionally heard him talking in his sleep as he had nightmare's about Gant's death. Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves A week before they were to return home from the Arctic, the militia group known as the Army of Thieves was discovered to have taken control of the old Soviet Dragon Island facility, and were preparing to set off a highly destructive weapon which would ignite the atmosphere in the northern hemisphere. Being one of only two units close enough to stop them, Mother agreed to be part of the team to try and disable the Tesla weapon, but first the team opted to rescue the pilot who had been shot down after sending out a distress call. When they reached the plane, Schofield and Mother extracted Ivanov and his companion, only to come under attack from aircraft controlled by the Army of Thieves. As they fled back to their AFDVs, the situation was complicated by the arrival of a French submarine carrying assassins intending to kill Schofield. Luckily the Army turned their focus on the sub, however Mother was surprised when Schofield opted to rescue a few of them. As they fled through the ice leads towards Dragon Island, Mother fired back at the Cobras pursuing them, however her gunfire had no effect, and so one of the French commandos used his gun to finish one of the Cobras, impressing Mother. Once they were safely secured in one of the nearby islet facilities, Schofield successfully appealed to Veronique Champion to assist them in stopping the Army's plans, and so Mother approached the French commando, Baba, to compliment his weapon. As they conversed, Mother came to think that he was the mirror image from her Cosmo horoscope, but did not have long to dwell on it as the group began making plans to disable the Tesla device. As soon as they decided to target the red uranium spheres, they came under attack from a squad of Thieves. The group made their way through the islet facilities, with Mother donning one of the Army's uniforms in an attempt to bluff their way past their enemy, until they reached the cable car leading onto Dragon Island itself. As the cable car made its way up, the Thieves' leader, the Lord of Anarchy spoke to Mother, Schofield and Champion via their confiscated earpieces, attempting to convince them that they could not succeed, bringing up Mother's troubled marriage thanks to his access to her file. Undeterred, Mother joined Baba in stealing a fuel truck and launching it into the space between the cliff-side and the main tower before securing it with the French Magneteux, allowing Schofield to reach the tower and steal the red uranium spheres. The group then rendezvoused with Ivanov, who attempted to fly them off in another plane, only for the Army to disable the forward landing gear. Though the Lord of Anarchy had a red uranium sphere and had it launched into the atmosphere, it failed to detonate due to the sabotage caused by Ironbark providing a buffer zone. As the Army came at them to retrieve their sphere, Mother attempted to fight back, but was forced to abandon the floating plane with Zack and Emma, along with two of the spheres. Separated from the rest of the team, Mother led the two civilians through the mountainous region on the south side of the island, however the Army of Thieves continued to pursue them. After wondering what Schofield would do in her position, Mother elected to draw their enemies away while Zack and Emma escaped with the spheres. Cornered in a mine by Bad Willy and his men, Mother was quickly captured and taken to the gasworks. Mother and the also-captured Baba were suspended from a forklift in the strappado position, much like Jeff Hartigan had been, in preparation to be tortured. After spying Schofield being brought in, Mother called for him to stay strong. Mother was forced to watch as Marius Calderon had Ironbark electrocuted and Hartigan's head encased by a wooden box and occupied by a rat that began eating his face, and Schofield electrocuted non-fatally, so that their screams would be broadcast to Emma and Zack. When Calderon decided he wanted to break Schofield by having him watch a loved one die, he prepared to have both Mother and Baba subjected to the same torture as Hartigan. Before their heads were covered by the boxes, Mother whispered to Baba to do what Ozzy Osbourne would do and play dead. Schofield watched in horror as Mother and Baba's faces were apparently savaged by the rats. After Schofield managed to escape thanks to Bertie and attacked the gathered Thieves, he went and checked on Mother and Baba's bodies, discovering they were still alive; thanks to Mother's suggestion, they had bitten the heads off the rats before they could be killed themselves and then pretended to be dead. With Calderon in possession of Zack and Emma's spheres and escaping so that he could fire a missile into the gaseous atmosphere. With the Thieves' leader attempting two plans, Schofield sent Mother and Baba to prevent the sphere Big Jesus had been given from being launched from a megatrain. After concluding that their best option would be to keep the train from stopping so that it could fire, Mother and Baba took control of the locomotive and set it at full throttle. As they slowed the Thieves' attempts to reach the locomotive, Baba unexpectedly asked if she was spoken for since he admired her skills as a soldier. After taking a moment to consider, Mother realised while she and Baba were highly compatible, she loved Ralph too much, and told Baba she was married, to which the French commando noted he was a lucky man for having her. After he kissed her, Baba set out to draw the Thieves' fire, getting shot in the process, but buying them the time to crash the megatrain into the sea. Diving off the train at the last moment with Baba, Mother pulled him into a nearby submersible, where Mother used the things in her Meals Ready-to Eat kit to create a makeshift clotting gel (having remembered some of the things Zack had told her about the contents during the testing trip) to keep the Frenchman from bleeding out. Mother soon heard Schofield trying to reach her on the radio, and while she couldn't respond since her equipment was damaged, she was able to gather that something big was about to happen and to get off the island. Driving the submersible away at full speed, Mother and Baba were able to escape the nuclear strike on Dragon Island that had been authorised by the Russians. They were later picked up and reunited with the rest of their team. After once again being awarded with a secret medal for her actions at the White House, Mother proceeded to chat with Champion, learning that her call-sign Renard was the French word for fox. Seeing the attraction between Champion and Schofield, Mother encouraged the latter to ask her out, agreeing with Brooke Ulacco that it would be good for him and that Gant would have approved like she did. Between Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves and The Four Legendary Kingdoms Some years later in 2016, Mother was on tour in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Soon after Astro was asked to share his opinion on Schofield and Mother to a group of mysterious men, Schofield, Mother, Astro and Tomahawk were requested to perform a joint operation in southern Afghanistan with a small group of Delta operators led by Jeff Edwards. As soon as they landed on an airstrip near a coast, Mother and the other Marines became suspicious of both the circumstances and the unperturbed Delta operators, but were soon forced to wear bags over their heads as they were driven to another location. The Four Legendary Kingdoms Some time later, from inside a train-mounted cage, Mother was forced to watch as a mysterious man calling himself Hades announced the beginning of the Great Games of the Hydra in the Underworld, with herself, Astro and Tomahawk being used to serve as hostages to ensure Schofield's participation. Shortly after Schofield was reunited with his friends in the interim before the Third Challenge, he was soon informed by Vacheron to select one of his hostages to be handcuffed to for the next Challenge. Choosing Mother, Schofield was brought to the starting point for the Third Challenge, where they struggled through the army of minotaurs and armoured elephants due to Mother's bulk and lack of nimbleness, but eventually made it through to the coward's exit. As Mother, Schofield and the others ate, Astro called out to Jack West Jr, whom he knew from a previous mission. Recognising Jack from her Desert Storm days, Mother teased the Australian and questioned where he had gone after his exploits, and he summed up his mission raising a girl on a long-term mission before Astro introduced Jack and Schofield to each other. The next morning, Mother watched from the hostage train and Schofield, Astro and Tomahawk tackled the wall maze of the Fourth Challenge. After the Challenge, Schofield noted to Mother his suspicion that the Games would eventually reach a point where he would have to fight Jack, and asked her opinion on such an outcome. Mother assured Schofield that while it would likely be difficult given Jack's old reputation, she believed Schofield could best Jack. For the Fifth Challenge, Schofield took on Mother and Astro as his companions as they entered a Light Strike Vehicle they were to use in a Circus Maximus-style race. Together they shrugged off the various attempts by the minotaurs and the Hydra to stop them until a sniper shot from Jack caused a pile up. After Jack gave Schofield the Golden Sphere and warned him about the impending execution of the hostages, he offered to get his people out along with his own. Though Mother tried to protest, Schofield told her and Astro to go with Jack. Once Schofield was helped to the finish line, Mother helped retrieve Tomahawk and Jack's hostages, and though she wondered about releasing the other hostages, Jack pointed out that they couldn't save everyone and that the other Champions' hostages had known what they were signing up for. The group then began their escape from the Underworld, attempting to evade the Hydra and the minotaurs' LSV's, until Jack, knowing at some point the explosive in his neck would be detonated, told his allies to go on without him. When he tasked Alby with ensuring the group's escape and finding help to get Lily back, Mother was dubious of the small young man but accepted Jack's vouching of him. Jack proceeded to distract his enemies as Mother and the others drove away from the Underworld. As it got dark, one of the Underworld's chase choppers located them, but the group was lucky enough to be rescued by Jack's newly arrived friends, Pooh Bear, Stretch and Mabel Merriweather. As the group asserted they'd need an army to storm the Underworld and free their friends, Alby realised he could get them one, and Mother was among those who went with him back to the Underworld to get the minotaurs on their side by telling them about Dion and Zaitan's plans to kill Hades and deny them their freedom. Minotus quickly agreed to aid them, and so the minotaur army was quickly assembled, with Mother joining them as they began assaulting the mountain. Mother, Astro, Alby and Minotus searched for their friends on the mountain, soon locating Jack, Schofield and their allies. After Hades secured them a helicopter from the minotaurs, Mother everyone else departed the Underworld, and upon arriving at one of Hades's nearby mines, Schofield and his friends opted to take one of the remaining planes owned by the Royals to make their way home. As Jack and Schofield bade each other goodbye, Mother teased them about their bromance before telling Schofield to get a move on, and with that, Mother, Schofield, Astro and Tomahawk returned home to the States. The Three Secret Cities A few days after leaving the Underworld, Schofield was contacted by Jack, who was in more trouble and requesting information. Mother was amused by the fact that Jack was still going, and asked Schofield to pass on her comment about him being an energiser bunny and a hello. Personality Thirty-four years old, 6'4" in height with a fully shaved head and weighing in at over 200lbs, Mother's callsign is not meant to convey maternal qualities - rather it is short for Motherfucker. Her short temper and eccentric nature lead her to many hand-to-hand fights with fearsome adversaries. In addition to her sarcastic wit, Mother is often more ready to opt for a violent solution more readily than her unit leader. Despite this, she is fiercely loyal to Schofield, having his best interests at heart. Because she is sometimes in awe of Schofield's achievements, she never refers to him as anything other than 'Scarecrow', since she regards him as something more than a normal man. Mother is also the helpful best friend to Gant, and often offered her and Schofield advice or insight into their relationship, to the point that Schofield trusted her enough to share his plans to propose to Gant (though Mother would let this slip). Mother has managed to evade certain death many times herself and is indispensable to Schofield, both as a soldier and a friend. Indeed, like Schofield, she possesses a similar luck which has allowed her to survive several near-death experiences, so often that it is noted that if the Grim Reaper exists, is only afraid of Mother. Relationships Ralph Newman Mother has been married to Ralph for an unknown length of time, likely since before Ice Station as she has his last name, and they have been happy together for many years. However they began having problems after Ralph questioned why she was spending so much time helping Schofield recover from Gant's death. Despite finding her apparent perfect match in "Le Barbarian", or Baba, Mother declined to leave Ralph. By the end of Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves they seem to have resolved their issues. Shane Schofield In Ice Station, it is suggested numerous times that Mother is attracted to Schofield, though mainly when she was high on painkillers, which would likely impair her judgement since Ralph (whom she was married to at the time, though he was not mentioned in the novel) wasn't brought up when she said she'd like a kiss from a good-looking guy like Schofield. Indeed Schofield only kisses her the once when he is forced to leave Mother behind, though at her own insistence, presumably because he was afraid he'd never see her again. Nothing more is mentioned of a romantic relationship between the pair again in subsequent novels, though it is clear that they have a great care, respect and loyalty towards one another. In Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves, Ralph is mentioned to suspect that Mother's constant being there for Schofield is more than just friendship; however Mother herself clarrifies that her relationship to Schofield is more like a brotherly-sisterly one. Jean-Claude Huguenot Mother met Le Barbarian, otherwise known as Baba, during Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves, and having read a horoscope concerning her perfect match, or mirror, Mother realised that Baba seemed to fit. Despite being given the opportunity to accept Baba as a new fling given that they were perfect for each other, Mother decided to stay with her husband Ralph. Trivia *Mother has proved to be such a popular characters with fans, that Matthew Reilly has recieved death threats warning him to not kill her off. **Ironically, Mother has been given the appearance of dying in almost every novel she has appeared in: ***In Ice Station, she was briefly presumed dead after the nuclear missile hit Wilkes. ***In Area 7, she staged her roach's crash to make it look like she had lost her (fake) leg and had her head crushed under the chassis to deceive Caesar. ***In Scarecrow, Schofield saw a shack she had taken cover in get struck by an RPG. ***In Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves, Mother and Baba were assumed to have not heard Schofield's warning about an incoming nuke. *An encounter with a killer whale has left her with a prosthetic left leg from the knee down (it has not only to provided mobility, but saved her life frequently). *Aside from Schofield himself, Mother is the only other character to appear in all of the novels in the Scarecrow series. *After Astro and Schofield, Mother is the third character to cross over into the Huntsman series. Category:Characters Category:Main Characters Category:Scarecrow Characters Category:Huntsman Characters Category:Protagonists Category:U.S. Characters Category:U.S. Soldiers Category:United States Marine Corps Category:Marine Reconnaissance Unit 16 Category:Marine Helicopter Squadron 1 Category:Marine Reconnaissance Unit 9 Category:Ice Station Category:Area 7 Category:Scarecrow Category:Hell Island Category:Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves Category:The Four Legendary Kingdoms